


paradise catcher

by Alectrona (DreamyRequiem)



Series: strelitziaceae [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: 'de u can't ship them' watch me, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble Collection, F/F, written pre kh3 but also kh3 au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-05-15 21:37:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14798418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamyRequiem/pseuds/Alectrona
Summary: Sora is looking for a keyblade; Riku a Master.Kairi? Well, she's got a new friend to help and a mystery to solve. She and Strelitzia can definitely handle this.





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta`d

Kairi frowned at her supplies. There were a lot of potions and ethers--which would cover her and Stre during their return trip to the Twilight Town Mansion. There shouldn't be anything that would give them too much trouble so perhaps Kairi was over preparing--but she still remembered that time only a couple years ago where she and her boys thought they'd be fine with only a couple of bottles of fresh water and a handful of dried foods...

Well, better to be over prepared than under prepared.

She wasn't surprised Stre wanted to know more about the place she had been found in. It obviously wasn't the castle she had claimed that she and the other 'Dandelions' had gone to during the War. Kairi did of course wonder why she wanted to go there--Kairi would have some misgivings about returning to the place where she almost died.

Regardless, Kairi wasn't going to let Stre go alone. If she did have a bad reaction it'd be better to have someone else there to try and help calm any panic attacks. Kairi wished she could also label herself as someone Stre trusted. But considering everything Stre had been through Kairi wouldn't blame her if Stre was wary of trusting anyone.

That was something that just naturally happened when you've been betrayed and also been through a war--even if it was only the beginning of the Keyblade War. Even just a tiny bit of war was too much war.

Of course, in the end, Kairi also wanted to go because she wanted to know about the place too. She'd been asked by Yen Sid to investigate the mansion after Riku and Sora had mentioned it--said it had been some sort of assessment of her abilities as well. Kairi was pretty sure that he didn't expect her to return with a badly hurt girl around her own age.

"Kairi?"

She looked up. Stre stood at the doorframe, her hand against it. Her Chirithy peered around her legs at Kairi as she pulled away from her bag. "Is something up, Stre?" Kairi asked with a wide smile. Smiles helped with easing people, in her experience.

Stre frowned at her. Kairi faltered. "Kairi...I. Don't know if it's a good idea for you to come with me. It's probably going to be dangerous--"

"No." Kairi stood up, looking determined. She was not going to be left behind, not again. "I'm not going to stay here, while you’re out getting hurt, Stre. Sora and Riku already leave me behind and--It's scarier, being here and not knowing what's going on. I want to be there with you."

_I'm sick of worrying and wondering if the next time I hear anything about what's going on, it's to find out the people I care about are dead._

It almost felt like a battle, the two fo them staring at one another. As if the other girl hoped Kairi would back off if she glared long enough. But there was no way that was going to happen--She'd outstubborned Riku on multiple occasions. This was easy!

Finally, Stre sighed. "I don't...want you to get hurt. I'd feel better if you were somewhere safe."

"Nowhere is safe." Kairi shook her head. "Even here I can be attacked by heartless--It'd be better if I was with others who can fight, don't you think?" _Besides_ , she thought to herself, _she was a big target no matter where she was._

Ah, the joys of being a princess of heart.

Stre's shoulders slump. "I," She said, "Still don't want you to come. But I guess you'd just follow me if I tried to leave on my own, huh?"

"That's right!" Kairi declared, having not actually had that thought whatsoever. "So you might as well let me come!"

"Fine." Stre grumbled, clasping her hands against her stomach. "Just...please don't die?" Score! Kairi would've done a victory dance if she was Sora--but she wasn't so no victory dance here, sadly.

She gave Stre a thumbs up. "There's no way I plan on dying any time soon. So don't worry, Stre!" She gave her friend a fond smile as she turned back to her supplies. "So, wanna help me pack some items for the trip? I've got some potions, hi-potions, and ethers. Think we might need anything else...?"


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta`d

"So this is the place?" Strelitzia peered around the area with a worried frown. The place Kairi had led her to was an old mansion that looked like it had been abandoned some time ago. Which was strange because in her short time alive she had never seen an abandoned mansion before.

Kairi put her hands on her hips as she looked around. "Yep, this is the place. It looks just as bad off as the last time I was here." She smiled weakly as she turned back to Strelitzia. "It's kind of a gloomy place, huh? I can't believe DiZ, Riku and Namine stayed here for almost a year..."

Strelitzia hummed in agreement. Two of those names she wasn't familiar with, but Riku? Kairi had spoken of him often, her childhood friend who had almost been stolen by the darkness permanently. She wondered what he was like, because no matter how much Kairi may tell her about him, that didn't mean Strelitzia ad any idea what his personality was like.

Of course, Kairi had also spoken just as much of someone named Sora--whom Strelitzia also wanted to meet. Maybe she would, one day. Presuming they survive all of this.

"Where were the pods again?" She asked as Kairi pushed open the massive and heavy front doors. "You said they were here, but it is a mansion.

Kairi gave a wry laugh. "Would you believe me if I said there was a secret lab in the basement?"

A secret lab? Strelitzia did remember Kairi talking about that with Yen Sid. That was where she had been found? "Why would I be in a lab like that?" Strelitzia wondered quietly.

"It might've been an accident," Kairi said, "DiZ apparently just grabbed a bunch of pods from Castle Oblivion and brought them here when Sora's memories needed to be repaired. If there were people already in those pods, then he might not've noticed. They were kinda hurrying..." _Because of the Organization_ was left unsaid between them.

If it was an accident, then it was a happy one. Strelitzia was fine with that: If Kairi hadn't found her, she wasn't sure what would've happened to her. She might've just died from an injury that had carried on from her dream.

(Something only a keyblade could do.)

"That's okay," Strelitzia said, "I'm alive, so I can live with it all being by accident. Which door?"

Kairi smiled at her sadly before pointing to their right and led the way up the stairs. When they opened the door Strelitzia suddenly understood what Kairi meant by lab--but not by secret. "Kairi. This is wide open--how is this a secret?"

She laughed. "People are scared of this place--ghost stories, you know? So no one really knows about this place. Plus, most of the really sensitive information was taken and erased from the computers here a while ago now. If anyone finds this place now, they'll just find lots of old corridors and empty pods."

"Not so empty." Strelitzia reminded her. Kairi glanced at her and nodded, looking serious. They descended into the lab and walked through several empty hallways, with debris blocking most of the doorways. Strelitzia wondered what was down those halls.

They stopped in what seemed to be a computer room. Kairi poked at the computer until a door on the other end of the room slid open. "It’s through here--I locked the doorway to the pods with my keyblade before I left with you." Kairi hesitated at the door and turned to her. "Stre, I think you should unlock that door."

Strelitzia started. "What do you mean?" She asked.

Kairi sighed. "You've been using practice blades since you arrived at the tower--in all your training. I haven't seen you summon your keyblade once," She said, peering at her out of the corner of her eyes.

Stifling a grimace, she thought, That's because I summoned it once and almost had a heart attack. Because the keyblade that had appeared wasn't her well-worn and loved Starlight, but another keyblade entirely.

"...I'll try," She said as she passed Kairi, Chirithy popping into existence to balance himself on her shoulder. He must've sensed her fear and worry--otherwise, she was sure he wouldn't be trying to comfort her with his presence.

She held out her hand and willed her keyblade into her hand. Once more, Starlight was nowhere to be seen, as a keyblade of blues, whites, and tropical splashes of color appeared instead. The hilt was a blue bird from above, flying with its wings outstretch to form the guard. The shaft looked like a bunch of vines had been weaved together and at the end, where the teeth where, a pair of strelitzia flowers 'grew' from the vines.

It didn't seem wrong for her to have this keyblade--but it didn't seem right, either. The keyblade felt like herself, like Strelitzia, but that made no sense. Only the Foretellers had wielded unique keyblades: The rest of them had wielded Starlight or other keyblades won from worlds they defended.

Kairi let out a breath of awe. "It's beautiful, Stre."

Ducking her head because she didn't want Kairi to see her look of wary fear, Strelitzia mumbled a thanks and stepped further into the open room until she stood before the locked door. Raising her keyblade, she turned the tip like she had put it into the lock and a light shot out, hitting the door. It whirred and slid open as it was unlocked.

"Alright!" Kairi grinned. "Guess we should go ahead and check the area...there might be people in the other pods." Especially if that DiZ had taken those pods without realizing that Strelitzia was in one.

Strelitzia hummed to herself. "I hope so." She was also hoping that whoever it was, wouldn't be in the same condition Strelitzia had been in. Granted, she had only been that bad because she'd been almost killed before waking up. But then...what of others who 'died' in the realm of sleep?

She looked up as Kairi shimmied past the wall and into the docking bay for the pods. Strelitzia peered through the gap to where Kairi was, the other girl's hand held aloft with a ball of magic light hovering over it. "Kairi?" She called.

The red head grinned at her over her shoulder. "This is faster than wasting power moving them along. Let me just check the last couple over here..." She turned the bend and disappeared from sight and Strelitzia clasped her hands against her stomach out of worry. _She better be okay_ , she thought to herself.

"Stre!" Strelitzia's head snapped up as Kairi peeked back around the bend. "I found a pod that looks like its being used! Here...let me just get back..." Kairi shimmied past the pods and back through the gap as Strelitzia backed away.

"How do you tell if it’s being used?" She wondered.

Kairi put out her ball of light. "There was a silhouette in it. Now we just need to find the controls...I swore they were right here..." Kairi poked around the gap against before she flicked a panel up with a soft 'aha!' and pressed a button.

There was a click and rumble as the track began pulling the pods along. The three open pods disappeared into the darkness of the opposite gap as unopened pods filled the space up.

Strelitzia stepped forward as the final two pods clicked into place. All of pods were opaque save for one of those last two; the second to last one was foggy with a dark silhouette inside. Kairi stepped forward and began feeling the pod, looking for a button or latch to open it.

"Isn't there somewhere else we can open it?" Strelitzia wondered out loud.

Kairi shook her head. "There're only two options: They wake up on their own and it opens or I press a button on the outside." Which was probably why she was feeling the pod up.

She clasped her hands against her stomach as Chirithy appeared and leapt up to help Kairi find the button. "Why isn't there an 'open all' option?" Strelitzia asked.

"I think there might've been, in Caslte Oblivion." Kairi admitted. "But there isn't here so we have to make do."

Castle Oblivion...Strelitzia wanted to go there, and find out why their pods had been there and not the castle of the Foretellers. It just seemed so strange that the castle slash clock tower was not where the pods had been found, despite that being where they had begun.

Had someone else moved them, before that DiZ ever found them? It was totally possible, as Yen Sid had said many years had passed since the War--though he had never been specific--yet Strelitzia still didn't feel right accepting that. The possibility that she had outlived the other wielders from the War by that long was...kind of a little terrifying?

Kairi's voice shook her from her internal monologue. "There, got it!" She cried, pulling back as the pod opened up, from a seam that hadn't been there a second ago. The form inside tensed then relaxed as they slid forward out of the pod.

Strelitzia instinctively reached forward and caught them, their long dark hair spilling out over Strelitzia's arms. Kairi knelt down next to Strelitzia, helping her adjust the person they had just pulled out of the pod.

"...I think she's a girl." Kairi decided. "I guess we won't know for sure, though, until she wakes up."

 _She looks familiar_ , Strelitzia thought to herself as she stared down at the dark haired, dark clothed girl in arms. As more than just a fellow dandelion--She'd seen her, with someone before.

But who was it, she had seen her with?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Yo, forgot to link what Kairi's outfit looks like in this au--[its over here, on the final picture.](http://dreamyrequiem.tumblr.com/post/174055381372/trying-to-get-over-art-block-doddles)


	3. III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta`d
> 
> also?? skuld!!!
> 
> EDIT: I...found another fic with the same name so i decided to change this one?? apparently there's a blue-ish bird of paradise and is apparently called the japanese paradise flycatcher or sankocho(?? not sure about this part). so uh. decied to change the name of the fic to paradise catcher!

Skuld leaned against her chair, staring at the broken table in the center of the meeting room. She didn't know what to do with the sudden change she was stuck in. This wasn't the realm of dreams she had spent so long in but it wasn't really the worlds she and the other keybladers had left behind.

The two girls who had been with when she woke up had retreated out of the room. The girl clothed in mostly white who had watched her with sympathetic eyes. As if she somehow knew exactly what Skuld was going through.

Was she a keyblade wielder like her?

If so, how long had she been awake? Skuld had more questions than answers and she wondered if she could ever find the answers she wanted.

It was possible she could just ask them, but--something about that worried her. After the fallout in their dream realm, Skuld was anxious of confronting people. Ventus had run off and vanished, perhaps taken by the darkness, as had Lauriam. With just the three of them, they hadn't kep tthe unions together properly.

Was everyone alright, back where they slept? She clenched her hands against her stomach, feeling sick. They were so far away from her, without her ever being there to even try and keep the peace. The only reasonable thing to do is find where the pods would be, so she could free them.

That was what Master Ava would want, wasn't it?

Skuld curled her leg against her chest, swallowing fearfully. What would Master Ava want? Half of the rules had been to keep them all protected from the darkness that had tried to claim their hearts during the war. But what if by waking them all up just resulted in the very thing Master Ava had tried to protect them from?

"Skuld?" Her chirithy appeared at her foot, resting his paws on her leg. "Do you need help?"

She looked down at him, taking him in. The girl in white had been carrying a chirithy too, one with a purple purse hanging from their neck and a blue cape. Hers, sitting at her feet, had slightly different markings and had a red purse with a pale rose pink cape. The differences were obvious and yet--

Had they really been created by the same person? According to the journal they had found, with the information on spirits, all the chirithy had been made by the Master of Masters--the Foretellers' master. It was strange to see the differences and know that they were supposed to be the same.

"I'm fine, Chirithy." Skuld smiled tiredly, leaning over picking up the tiny spirit. "I'm just a little worried about the future and what to do."

He squirmed in her arms and pouted. "Why?" Chirithy asked.

Skuld paused as she wrapped her arms around the spirit. Why? She thought about it for a moment before coming to a conclusion. "I'm afraid of messing up and getting a lot of people hurt in the process." She told him.

Chirithy looked at her with a serious expression. "Why not ask those two for help, then? Wasn't it you, who told Emphemer that we all needed to work together?"

She had told him that hadn't she? "I guess I did, didn't I," Skuld said, "But I don't know anything about them."

"That hasn't stopped you before." Chirithy reminded her, slipping out of her arms. "Let's just go." He scurried away from her grasp and to the door of the small room and opened it up. Skuld made a face and got up, hurrying after the spirit.

Skuld paused at the door, her hand on the doorknob. Chirithy pushed on the door, trying to push it open and Skuld took a breath. "Okay. I'm ready."

Pushing the door open was very hard on her nerves. It turned out to be for nothing because the duo wasn't outside in the lobby of the mansion. Skuld frowned to herself and started up the stairs to check in the rooms for them.

The first was a pure white room, the snow white color from wall to floor to ceiling. Even the furniture was snow white. Skuld made a face and closed the door, blinking to let her eyes readjust to the low light.

The other room was the library she had stumbled through, half aware. The floor was missing, with the corridors of what seemed to be metal stretching into the basement of the mansion. Skuld shook her head and backed out, closing the door behind her.

Skuld went back down to the first floor, peering through the glass door to the over grown backyard. The whites and pinks of the girl's outfits would've stood out through the greens and Skuld couldn't see those colors.

Which left either the other door of the bottom floor or the front yard.

She decided to try the other door, curious about that room. However, when she tried to open the door, it only opened a crack. Something had collapsed on the other side and she realized there was no way she was getting through there.

Closing the door, Skuld turned away from it and headed to the front doors. Chirithy continued to toddle behind her, stopping as she hesitated at that front doors.

Her hand hovered over the doorknob as she tried to harden her resolve. Skuld didn't know what was causing her hesitation now, but she knew that if she didn't do this now, she might just push it off until the very last minute.

Skuld clenched her teeth and then grabbed the door knob, pushing one of the front doors open.

Out in the front yard, the two girls sat together, talking about something or another. Skuld watched them both for a moment, as the girl in white gently stroked the fur of her chirithy as she listened to the pink girl's enthusiastic speech.

"Hey." Skuld's voice cut off the pink girl and the two looked to her. "I think I'm ready--To...know." Know what was going on, what she could do, and what the future may hold.

Skuld could face it, in the hopes of reuniting with her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was originally going to be from stre's pov but like. it wasn't going right and after the third attempt i realized that maybe I should try skuld's pov.
> 
> it flowed so much easier.


End file.
